He offered to stay, even to attend the meeting with Tatlock, but Brady said no. “He’ll understand it was an accident and that I was scared. He’s a good guy.”But as his uncle pulled away, the all-too-common tingle up his spine overtook Brady and made him want to bolt again. Unfortunately, Tatlock had already seen him. “The back room,” he said. Brady followed him, silently rehearsing the account he’d been inventing for hours.Tatlock sat across from him, looking more sad and confused than mad. “First I’m going to listen; then you’re going to listen. Go.”“Well, okay, see, my friend and me came home late from a party and we were horsing around—”“Who’s your friend?”“I’d rather not say. He didn’t do anything.”“Fair enough. Then?”“We started throwing snowballs at each other, and he hit me with one, so I threw the next one a little harder as he ran past your window.”“Uh-huh. You guys been drinking? doing drugs?”“No, sir. I don’t do that.
